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Thankfulness Learned Through Frustration

Ok, so I’ve been AWOL for most of this past week. As of Sunday evening, my laptop went into rejection mode — went on strike — and has been rebelling about any and all input from me since. Not being tech-savvy, I had my permanent roommate (i.e., my husband) lend me some advice and even take over my desk chair occasionally to work his magic on my computer. After more false starts and reboots than I can recount, my trusty laptop is now back in working order. This explains why I have had nothing to say all week.

Or rather, I should say, nothing publicly online to say. I’ve had plenty of thoughts running through my mind, just no convenient way to share. (As fond as I am of my iPhone, there’s no way I’m going to attempt to blog and type up my thoughts on that little screen.)

So, during my week of technologically imposed silence, I had loads of time to reflect on my relationship with my electronics — large portions of it spent writing those reflections out in my journal, just to stay sane.

Vocally, and even in my own mind, I think I am guilty of being one of those people who dislike personal electronics. I like to write the old-fashioned way, with a pen and paper; I use old-school journals and office supplies; and I still very much prefer reading books in hardcopy vs. e-books. I don’t talk on the phone much, I would rather have a photo stuck to my corkboard than enjoy it on the screen, and when my gadgets misbehave, I am lost, without a clue how to proceed.

That being said, these past few days have brought to me an appreciation for the advances in modern technology and personal gadgetry.

I have missed my laptop.

That should probably be all in caps, as well, to properly show the emphasis behind that statement. Fifty times a day, I head into my office to: request a book at my local library, check my email, edit some recent photos I’ve taken, check my Facebook, print out a worksheet for my homeschool assignments, check the notifications from my daughter’s charter school, compare prices or find a location or look up a phone number or update my blog or add a new quote to my “favorite quotes” page….. I could go on and on. And each time I have attempted to do so these past few days, I have been faced with the knowledge that I’m grounded. No laptop.

In short, while I don’t think my lack of appreciation for my computer brought about this recent crash, I do believe it brought about a perfect opportunity to face head on my real feelings about the tools at my disposal. Could life go on without my laptop? Absolutely. Would I want it to have to? No.

I want to take this moment to be thankful for a working laptop, a tool that I use so often during the day as a homeschooling mom, writer, and photographer that I feel lost without it. No more will I be one of those people who cringe and complain at technology and how it is ruining us and making us lazy. I will embrace the usefulness of this tool and work to find balance with it in my life.

In pursuit of that goal, having brought you up to date on my silence, I’m signing off on this blog post for now. I look forward to returning later, since I have my next post brewing in my mind. As usual, I’ve been thinking…